


Part 1 - How Severus Met Edgar

by euill



Series: Much Ado About Snape [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied Relationships, Implied Slash, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 23:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11473593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euill/pseuds/euill
Summary: Severus gets a surprise while struggling with depression after the first wizarding war.





	Part 1 - How Severus Met Edgar

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on tumblr, on my attempt to participate on a fandom theme week.  
> Alas, little good did it do, because I never finished it. 
> 
> This is part 1 out of 4.
> 
> It is beta'd, but we're all human.

 

 

 

Crossing over the threshold to the dark bedroom, Lucius took a deep breath – this could go either marvellously or extremely wrong. Had he thought this through? He squinted as he let his eyes get used to the dim light, at the end of the dark chamber was a bed that could fit at least three grown people, but the only thing noticeable was a lump of blankets and pillows and some greasy black strands of hair on top of it.

 

“Severus”, he called out softly into the unaired room as he advanced carefully towards the bed. “Are you awake?” He eyed the heavy curtains shielding the massive windows from the surprisingly lovely spring sun shining outside. He couldn’t help but to think that it felt a little bit like a mausoleum.

 

A grunt was heard from the pile and a familiar hooked nose appeared from underneath the blankets. A hand with long fingers soon followed and Severus rubbed his bloodshot eyes with the heel of his hand.

 

“I’m up”, he said quietly. A dull ache in Lucius’ chest rose as he took in the hollowed cheeks and prominent collarbones, as Severus slowly sat up, revealing a dirty night shirt. Even if Lucius saw him daily, he still felt horrified by how the before scrawny boy had turned into a skeleton of a man.

 

He cursed himself in his mind as he started to fidget. He – lone master of Malfoy Manor and the Malfoy fortune, respected in most parts of the ministry, avoiding imprisonment after the war, father of a healthy male baby boy that would carry on the Malfoy name – was suddenly very uncertain on the plan he was intending to carry out. How was it that those black eyes and that sullen face could make him feel like an uncertain schoolboy, when barely no one else had that power over him?

 

Lucius cleared his throat and was met by an empty gaze.

 

“Well”, he started. “I assumed it is awfully lonely up here seeing as I’m spending most of my days at the ministry and Narcissa took Draco to visit her parents and Dobby is hardly any company.” He trailed off and met no response. “So, I decided I’d bring you something”, he continued as it was clear that Severus wouldn’t deny nor confirm. As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and withdrew his present, carefully placing it in what he assumed to be Severus’ lap. However, with the pile of blankets it was quite difficult to tell.

 

Severus stared at the kitten, who very defiantly stared back with two enormous yellow eyes underneath a pair of bat-like black ears.

 

“It’s a cat, well, a half-kneazle to be precise - I figured it’d keep you company and well, I didn’t name it, so feel free to call it whatever’s to your liking.”

 

Severus looked up at him, an incredulous look in his eyes, eyebrows furrowed.

 

“And what, by Merlin, do you expect me to do with this?” he asked dryly, showing if only for a mere second, his old self again.

 

Lucius shrugged. “Just don’t put it in a potion”, he said, leaned forward and kissed the pale forehead of the younger man, simultaneously as he reached down to pet the black fur ball that arched so violently against his hand that it almost fell over.

 

As Lucius left, the kitten had jumped down and started exploring the chamber. Severus did his best to ignore it. Even though he had just woken up he felt how his eyelids grew heavier as he nested down in his blanket pile again. Lucius’ was a prick, he decided, for just handing him a bloody cat like that. Sleep didn’t come easy, because the tiny animal kept making strange noises. Severus’ looked up and found the yellow eyes peering back at him from atop of his bookshelf, making a delighted purring noise. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t a little surprised how the damned thing had gotten up there.

 

With the kittens continued, relatively loud, exploration of the chambers, Severus’ eventually gave up. He crawled out of the bed, shoved his feet into the slippers Dobby had provided him, and wrapped a blanket around him. If the annoying creature wouldn’t leave him alone, he sure as hell would leave it alone and seek peace in the library.

 

**\- - - - -**

 

He finally found some peace and quiet sitting crawled up on a chair, leaning his chin on his bony knees as he very absentmindedly looked through another old tome on dark arts laying at the desk in front of him. He couldn’t understand a word, but the pictures were absolutely fascinating. Something suddenly touched his toe and much to his own embarrassment he yelped and almost fell off the chair. Standing on its hind legs, the kitten stretched out its paw and touched his big toe again, making that strange almost delighted noise when it got noticed.

 

“By Merlin, it’s only you”, Severus said, feeling how his heart began to calm down. The tiny cat jumped up on the table and quite frankly Severus’ wasn’t quite sure what to do. With much bigger confidence than an animal of that size should harbour, it walked over the open book and slumped down, quite ungracefully. Severus’ stared at it. It blinked at him, seemingly oblivious or just nonchalant about how much it interfered.

 

He reached out his hand, meaning to remove it from the especially gruesome page it laid draped over, but he hesitated with his hand hovering just above it. He could feel the warm heat emitting from the tiny furry body. Lucius had said that the cat a half-kneazle, hadn’t he? What did Severus really know about half-kneazles, he suddenly felt anxious. He knew the basics of regular cats, but as he recalled what Lucius had said… should he maybe owl Hagrid? A wry smile showed itself on his thin lips. ‘If it wouldn’t be much trouble, Hagrid, could you please come to Malfoy Manor and remove a very irritating creature that is interfering with my life of self-loathing’, he dictated in his head, rolling his eyes at the mere idea.

 

His thoughts got interrupted by feeling an incredibly soft and warm and fluffy forehead nuzzling against his hand. The kitten emitted a delighted purr as Severus’ let his hand stroke over the warm back. It was, Severus decided, not entirely an unpleasant sensation to feel that soft fur underneath his fingers. The kitten closed its eyes and started purring as the petting continued and Severus silently decided that he’d read that specific page later, as two tiny legs stretched over the page to bat at a quill.

 

An hour later they had changed positions and with the black kitten sleeping soundly in his lap, allowing him to pet the excruciatingly soft fur as he gazed at the pictures. He found himself to be able to concentrate in a way he hadn’t been in quite a while. The soft, warm and very much alive body on his lap was almost meditative with its soft and even breathing. Severus found himself studying the animal in his lap. It had a pink nose and its fur was dark brown rather than jet black. And his entire hand could almost cover the impossibly small animal.

 

“You look like an Edgar”, he said out of nowhere, surprising even himself. The cat opened an eye, startled by the sudden noise, but gave a soft short purr as in approval and closed it again.

 

**\- - - - -**

 

Lucius kept being absentminded the entire day at the office, he ended up owling the wrong person and almost firing another that was in fact not even at his department, and he had misplaced his favourite quill. He kept thinking about Severus and the cat. With every passing minute, it seemed like a worse idea than the minute before. Forcing a severely depressed 22-year-old to take care of a cat, when the severely depressed 22-year-old in question never had showed any signs of liking animals. What had he been thinking? Just because he had read that keepings pets could be good for your mental health in one of Cissa’s glossy magazines. No, he had half a mind to take of early and just take back the kitten to the breeder and just forget about this entire utterly stupid affair.

 

Still he didn’t manage to get off until late, as usual. He apparated home and hoped that the moody younger man had indeed not put the poor little creature in a potion. Instead, he found the same blanket pile as before, but when closer examined it now contained a tiny cat sleeping in the nook of Severus’ shoulder and neck and a sleeping Severus’ that had a small but noticeable curve on his lips. Smiling, feeling all kinds of affection well up inside of him, Lucius turned to leave the pair of newly found friends alone, making a note of never ridiculing his wife’s glossy magazines again.


End file.
